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Riven
Build Guide by Arnwolv

This build has been archived and is for historical display only.

PLEASE NOTE: This build has been archived by the author. They are no longer supporting nor updating this build and it may have become outdated. As such, voting and commenting have been disabled and it no longer appears in regular search results.

Not Updated For Current Season

This guide has not yet been updated for the current season. Please keep this in mind while reading. You can see the most recently updated guides on the browse guides page.

Offense:
21

Defense:
9

Utility:
0

Introduction d(^.^)b

Ah, Riven, My favorite solo top Champion. I have so much to say about her.
In the guide you're about to read through (I hope), I will start off by going over Riven's abilities, then going over to runes and summoners, describing why I picked those runes, spells, etc.
Then we will go over items you might concider buying as well, (I did not intend a pure tank Riven), how well they work on the exile, and reason why they work so well on her. and one last thing: Battle Bunny Riven is serious business.

And have some music while you're browsing!

Just because Riven IS and ALWAYS HAS BEEN a warrior!

Riven's Abilities d(^.^)b

Runic Blade Riven's abilities charge her blade, causing her to deal bonus damage on her next autoattack. Riven can store up to 3 charges, but only expends one at a time.
Amazing passive. it helps your last hitting a TON. It's so easy to last hit with this, because of the secure extra damage.Note:You gain one stack of Runic Blade for each of the three activations of Broken Wings.

Broken Wings
1st Use/2nd Use: Riven dashes forward and deals physical damage to a small area in front of her.
3rd Use: She Jumps into the air and slams downward, causing a larger impact nova that deals physical damage and knocks nearby enemies back.
With Broken Wings, you can jump onto your opponent for harassing, then pop Ki Burst and then dash away with Valor to get away with as little damage taken as possible. Broken Wings does more for Riven at level 1 than any other skill of hers, so you want to take a point early then leave it there. I like to level it up quicker if I'm going AD Riven.I max Broken Wings last.

Ki Burst Riven stuns nearby enemies for 0.75 seconds and hits them for 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 physical damage. (1.0 AD scaling) Ki Burst is AMAZING in teamfights. If the enemies are all clustered, you can initiate by using Blade of the Exile, then dash into the middle of them with Valor, and then stun each and every one of them for almost 1 second. Overall, an amazing ability.Note: While Blade of the Exile is active, Ki Burst gains a wider AOE range.I max Ki Burst first.

Valor
Riven dashes forward and gains a shield that protects her from damage for 2.5 seconds. Valor is amazing for initiating, since you get a shield + a dash. Valor altso helps deny a good amount of harass from your lane opponent.Note: Even though this is a dash, it can not pass through walls, like Nidalee's Pounce or Gragas' Body Slam.I max Valor second.

Blade of the Exile
Riven's sword reforms, giving her a bonus 20% Attack Damage, extended range on her damaging abilities ( Broken Wings, Ki Burst) and basic attacks for 15 seconds.
While Blade of the Exile is active, Riven can reactivate the ability to activate Wind Slash, emitting a large cone shockwave that deals physical damage to all units hit based on their missing health.
Use this in teamfights before using your Ki Burst, because of the extra AD, meaning extra damage dealt, and taking as much advantage as possible form the AOE range increase.
When laning, I reccomend you use this before Valor into Ki Burst into Broken Wings , mainly because of the 20% AD increase, but altso because if your opponent is loosing the fight, they will try to run. If you activated Blade of the Exile before going in, Wind Slash will be ready to finish them off.I take Blade of the Exile whenever it is up.

Runes d(^.^)b

Note:The runes are almost the same on both tanky Riven and AD Riven, but getting armor pen. instead of AD marks on AD Riven, works out late game. The reasoning behind that little extra AD boots on tanky Riven is mainly having more sustain in early laning since you get a little more health on your shield, since you won't have nearly as much health early game as late game.

For tanky Riven: Greater Mark of Attack Damage Even a tank Riven needs AD. All of her abilities scale really well off AD, and that extra amount of AD at the start of the match is a big advantage.

For AD Riven:
greater mark of desolation Greater Mark Of Desolation Enemies will start building armor when they see how much damage you deal. that armor pen. will help immensely late game.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist These are for late game. if you have 0 MR, you will get one-shotted by the enemy AP carry. MR per level helps prevent that.Note: Altso helps a very tiny bit if fighting an unexpected AP top. but since it's MR per level, it does not help early laning very much.

Greater Quint Of Strength Helps your last hitting by giving you extra damage to last hit with. As I said before, Riven needs AD, no matter if going tank or not.

Ignite
Very few things are as annoying as watching your opponent getting away with 19 hp.
Enough said.Note: If you are fighting Tryndamere, Take this skill. Just wait a few seconds into his Undying Rage, then ignite him. If you master this, he won't be a problem anymore.

Exhaust
I don't see why not. Nobody gets away from you, combined with your dashes and stun.
altso: Really helps if you're up against a high damage opponents, because of the reduced Movement Speed (40%), reduced attack damage (70%), and ability and item damage (35%) for 2.5 seconds.

OTHER SUMMONER SPELLS TO CONSIDER

Ghost
Is better than Flash for Chasing, but for getting into teamfights and escaping, Ghost is outclassed in every way. I prefer Flash over Ghost, but feel free to take it. Not too bad of a choice really.

Cleanse
If you're laning againt an opponent with high CC (slows, stuns, etc), for example Kennen or Nasus, or a jungler with CC, for example Rammus or Udyr you want to take cleanse. It will save your life.

Teleport
It's quite usefull to be able to get from top lane to bottom lane in an instant, isn't it?
or be able to pop right into a teamfight from the other side of the map?
No, for solo tops, Teleport is not a bad skill at all, but it does have quite a long cooldown.

Heal
Hah, I hate this skill so much. You can be so cheap with it. But I can't find any reason not to take it, really. Just because I don't like it, doesen't mean it's bad.
That little burst heal will save you from dying quite a lot of times.

SUMMONER SPELLS YOU SHOULD NEVER TAKE

Clarity Riven. Does. Not. Use. Mana. This is, mildly spoken, a waste of a summoner spell on her. Just don't even give this summoner spell a small thought.

Revive
Please, just don't take Revive. It is pretty nice to come right back to life after death, but really now, 540 second cooldown. That is a major cooldown, so Revive is of no use to you about 3/4 of the game, and you should not really be dead in the first place.Note: This summoner spell would be amazingly valueable if 50%+ of the cooldown was cut. Riot should start working on that.

I am just not even gonna mention the other summoner spells.

Pros / Cons d(^.^)b

Pros:

+ Naturally tanky.+ Doesen't use mana.+ Fluid auto attack animation, so last hitting is easy.+ Decent sustain with Valor if timed right.+ Easy to harass with.+ Has CC.+ Has a bunny skin!

Cons:

- Easy to predict. When she pops Blade of the Exile, she's going in.- Requires a good start to do well.- Shut down really hard by CC.- You need proper timing on your skills.

Other items that work pretty well d(^.^)b

Doran's blade/Doran's shield
I am going to be completely honest: There is no reason not to take Doran's items.
The reason beind me going Boots of Speed and 3 Health Potion, is because I always go boots + pots. Feel completely free to go Doran's, I just like the extra mobility.

Ionan Boots of Lucidity
Riven uses no mana, so the only thing holding her down is cooldowns. I find these boots pretty usefull, not a bad choice at all. You can spam your abilities more frequently, and therefore deal more damage. I had a hard time deciding between Ionian Boots of Lucidity and Mercury's Treads, but the defensive side won it seems.

Warmog's Armor
Mainly for my tanky Riven. You can go Warmog's Armor instead of Randuin's Omen if you want to. it does give you more health and health regen, but Omen benefits your team a little more beacause of the slow from it. But be my guest.

Summary

That about sums it up! I would appreciate any sort of feedback, I am not too experienced with Mobafire yet, and this is my second serious guide on here. I have not learned how to use collums nor line separations yet, so tip on that would altso be very quite nice. Thank you for visiting my build, leave a vote, maybe a comment, everything helps.(Every guide should include PONIES)

League of Legends is a team based, real time strategy game set in a mythical world of swords & magic where epic battles decide the fate of mystical nations. Game players take on the role of a Summoner who conjures and controls champions to fight for them at the Institute of War. During game play champions gain experience and items to enhance their skills and abilities. How players develop and play their champions can be the difference between a crushing defeat or a glorious victory!